In automatic forms handling equipment, particularly in the production of mailer type business forms, forms are automatically fed from a conveyor to a folder or other forms handling equipment, and then on to a sealing mechanism to be constructed into the mailers. One particular system for production of mailers in this manner is sold by Moore Business Forms, Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill. under the trade designation M8158/M4800. Speedisealer.RTM. pressure seal system. The business forms associated with this system have pressure activated adhesive, and after buckle folding are fed to the pressure sealer to be constructed into the final mailers. A conveyor for such a system is shown in copending application Ser. No. 07/604,858 filed Oct. 26, 1990, and an exemplary pressure sealer is shown in copending application Ser. No. 07/417,775 filed Oct. 6, 1989.
While the automatic handling equipment works very well for most of the forms being processed, there are occasions when a form may not be fully processed by the system due to jams, misfolds, or other inadvertent stoppages of the system. Also, there are occasions when small quantities of form product are desired to be processed, and it is not worthwhile to set up the automatic handling equipment for such a small quantity of forms. Heretofore, it has been very difficult to accommodate these situations--namely, the less than fully processed form, or small quantities of off form products. Under such circumstances, it was typically necessary to place the documents into individual conventional mailing envelopes, or window envelopes, resulting in extra handling and material costs.
According to the present invention, a method and apparatus are provided which overcome the problems discussed heretofore. According to the present invention it is possible to allow a user to easily reintroduce forms that have not been fully processed back into the forms handling equipment for normal processing thereof. Also according to the invention, it is a simple and easy procedure to manually feed small quantities of off form product into the equipment without requiring modification of the equipment and displacement of the conveyor with respect to the other forms handling components. While the invention is particularly useful with respect to the production of mailer type business forms, specifically using a pressure seal system such as the Moore M8158/M4800 Speedisealer.RTM. pressure seal system, the invention is applicable to other forms handling equipment and procedures where normally an automatic conveyance of forms to a forms handler is provided.
According to one aspect of the present invention, a method of handling business forms, utilizing a conveyor connected to a forms handler with an area of interface between the conveyor and forms handler, is provided. The method comprises the steps of: (a) normally automatically feeding forms into the conveyor, the conveyor transporting the forms to the forms handler; and (b) occasionally bypassing the conveyor and manually feeding forms one at a time into the forms handler, without disturbing the position of the conveyor with respect to the forms handler. Where the forms handler is a folder and is connected to a pressure sealer (with the forms having strips of pressure seal adhesive thereon), the method comprises the further steps, after both steps (a) and (b), of folding the automatically or manually fed forms and then effecting pressure sealing thereof into mailers.
In the practice of the invention, preferably a plate having a slot perpendicular to the direction of forms conveyance by the conveyor is provided at the area of interface with adjustable forms guides provided in the slot, and step (b) is practiced by adjusting the position of the forms guides in the slot, and introducing forms one at a time into the slot guided by the forms guide. The plate is removably mounted at the area of interface between the conveyor and forms handler with the plate edges unexposed, and there is the further step of, when manual feeding of forms is no longer desired, manually grasping a surface manifestation (finger opening or finger tab) on the plate distinct from the edges, and removing the plate from its position at the interface between the conveyor and forms handler.
According to another aspect of the present invention, apparatus for handling business forms is provided. The apparatus comprises: Conveyor means for conveying business forms to a folder and sealer, the conveyor means including a first, infeed, end, and a second end adjacent the folder, the conveyor means conveying forms in a direction of conveyance from the first to the second ends thereof. A housing for containing the conveyor means, the housing means defining an open portion adjacent the area between the conveyor means and folder. Form introduction means disposed at the open portion, for covering the opening portion, and allowing bypass of the conveyor first end to allow introduction of individual forms directly into the area between the conveyor means and folder. The form introduction means comprises: a plate; means defining a slot in the plate perpendicular to the direction of conveyance of the conveyor means; adjustable form guide means associated with the slot to provide an adjustable guided width of the slot for introduction of forms; and surface means formed on the plate allowing movement of the plate from a first position covering the opening to a second position not covering the opening. The conveyor means typically includes a safety interlock at the opening for preventing operation of the conveyor and sealer if the opening is not covered. In such circumstances the form introduction means further comprises an element attached to the plate for engaging the interlock to allow operation of the conveyor means and folder when the plate is in its first position.
The invention also contemplates and, apparatus per se for facilitating manual business forms introduction which comprises the following elements: A plate of transparent material having a plurality of edges. Means defining an elongated slot in the plate. Adjustable form guide means disposed in the elongated slot for providing readily adjustable guides for forms to be introduced into the slot. A forms centering scale disposed at the slot; and, surface means associated with the plate for allowing manual grasping and movement of it if the edges thereof are not accessible.
The forms centering scale is an opaque scale mounted to the plate at the slot, with the center of the scale corresponding to the center of the slot. The surface means may comprise a finger opening in a central portion of the plate, and a flange upstanding from the face of the plate along an edge of the plate parallel to the slot. Preferably, the plate is quadrate, having first and second edges parallel to the slot and third and fourth edges perpendicular to it, and metal strips are disposed at the first and second edges with the upstanding flange part of a metal strip at the first edge. The element for engaging the safety interlock comprises a metal extension of the second edge metal strip, disposed on the opposite face of the plate as the upstanding flange.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide for the simple and effective re-introduction of partially processed forms, and small quantities of off form product, into an otherwise automatic forms handling system. This and other objects of the invention will become clear from an inspection of the detailed description of the invention and from the appended claims.